Protesters hold signs outside city hall in support of Cindy Gladue in Edmonton on April 2, 2015. The Supreme Court of Canada will hear an appeal in the case of an Ontario trucker acquitted of murdering an Indigenous woman in an Edmonton motel room. In March 2015, Bradley Barton was found not guilty by a jury in the death of Cindy Gladue, a sex-trade worker whose body was found in a bathtub. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Topher Seguin

Supreme Court agrees to hear appeal in case of Cindy Gladue

Supreme Court to hear appeal in the case of Ontario trucker who was acquitted in the death of an Indigenous woman

Barton, who called the fatal injury accidental, was acquitted of both murder and manslaughter.

The Alberta Court of Appeal ordered a new trial, ruling serious errors were made during the trial and in the judge’s charge to the jury about Barton’s conduct and the sexual assault law as it pertains to consent.

That decision — the one that will now be appealed before the high court — said the errors negatively compromised the jury’s ability to properly assess the evidence and apply the law correctly.

“Despite our society’s recognition of individual autonomy and equality, there still remains an undeniable need for judges to ensure that the criminal law is not tainted by pernicious and unfair assumptions, whether about women, Aboriginal people, or sex-trade workers,” said the written ruling from three judges, including Chief Justice Catherine Fraser.

“Failing to meet that need can undermine the jurors’ ability to apply the law objectively and correctly. Regrettably, in this case, the jury charge was deficient in all these respects.”

Barton’s trial heard that he hired Gladue for two nights of sex in June 2011. He testified that during both nights he put his fist in her vagina, but on the second night she started bleeding.